The Study of Adventure
by KeepsAwayTheNargles
Summary: This is a Muggle!AU Where Sirius Black is an off the wall detective. Remus the head of the Task Force, and Marlene is the sister of the murdered. The main genre of this story Is adventure, but there is a sub genre of Crime thrown in.


AN: I had to write a story using the Genre Adventure. There Is a sub genre of Crime here, but still Adventure Is the main one. The three prompts I chose to use are ...

1) 'I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way.' - Carl Sandburg

2) The word 'History'

3) 'To die would be an awfully big adventure.' - J.M Barrie, Peter Pan

* * *

Sirius walks briskly down the drenched pavement of St. Rutherford. Just an hour ago it rained harshly and utterly betrayed his trust in the weatherman. Opening the door to his apartment building and leading his way up three flights of stairs, Sirius takes his long coat of and hangs it up on the hook.

Downstairs a rukus can be heard. Sirius ignores it and bustles to his room, grabs a number of things necessary for his assignment, and then goes to the kitchen. He makes some tea and sits down to ponder the adventure set before him.

Ten minutes later a banging can be heard on the wall. Breaking his fragile concentration, he puts his coat back on and wanders around. Sirius observes nothing strange on the second floor, but once he reaches the ground floor, everything seems amiss.

"What is going on down here?" Sirius turns to a man carrying a large chest.

"On'y doing my job, sir."

"Well then, what would that be?"

"I'm moving this ladies furniture in her room."

Sirius blows some air out of his mouth. The guy didn't answer his question. He exits the building and thinks of another place to waste time at. Sirius might just be the most insufferable, but curiously quaint man you've ever met.

Wandering the town for a bit, his phone rings and the information recieved is exactly what he's needing to hear.

"Hello?"

"Sirius, you've got to come quick! A lady has been murdered in her house!"

Those are very weird words to want to hear, but all of a sudden his walks with a bounce in his step and a smile on his features. His black long coat billows behind him, and the collar flaps at his neck. He cannot wait to get to the scene.

Once there, he takes to examining the outside of the house. Hopefully no one's moved any evidence since the incident.

The locks on the door and window seem intact and not budged an inch. There are no footprints or impressions in the front lawn. No scuff marks from any vehicles. Not even any shotgun shells. What kind of case is this?

Inside the house, Sirius stand in one spot while many others bustle and push past. Some are wearing hazmat suits, and others just clear gloves. The one's dressed as policemen are who he's watching, and they go right up the stairs and to the second room to the left.

Right away after ascending the stairs he's affronted with a man, who in his rightful opinion, looked kind of like an Amish. His beard overwhelmed his face.

"Who are you?"

"Sirius black," He states. Trying to walk around the man is impossible, because he has placed a hand on the opposite wall. Therefore his entire arm was blocking the way.

"Only certified police and detectives are allowed in here."

"I am a detective. Can I go through now?"

"Can I see your badge?"

Sirius owns a badge alright, but he knows it's going to cause a spot of trouble. He shows it to the man despite the fact.

"A Pundit Detective? What the bloody hell does that mean?"

Sirius' patience is wearing thin. He does not care for dilly dally when his mind could be more focused on his adventure.

"A Pundit is someone who talks for the public on a particular subject they specialize in. I specialize in freelance detective work."

The man in front of Sirius still seems to be working out how he manages his job, so in the moment it takes him to habitually stroke his beard while he's pondering, Sirius squeezes past and into the room.

He's met with a most terrible sight. There is a woman wearing all blue laying face down on the floor. The woman herself is not a grotesque image, because technically there's not a spot of blood on her. She looks fine actually (if you didn't know she was dead.)

The room on the other hand, has blood puddles all over the floor. The wall on the opposite side of the room has a message written in blood on it, and there is one object lying on the floor. A small carry on bag.

"Let me examine the body."

His adventure just got so much better, you see as the mystery deepens, his need for stimulating activities also deepens. Stimulation for the mind, because there the adventure really starts. It's all about how he thinks about what's going on that riles him up.

"Good, Sirius you're here."

"Remus, my old friend. So sorry to hear that this has happened."

"Yes, well, it's hard to imagine that it wouldn't have happened sooner than later, after so many months of hearing about domestic fighting going on around these parts ... someone was bound to pop a cork."

I nod and kneel down by the body. The first thing I do is feel the collar of her coat. Then check her fingers for signs. I lean very close and sniff her lips.

"She's come from Cardiff. Is in a very unhappy marriage, and has been killed by poison."

"You figured out all that?"

"Yes."

Remus looks at Sirius with the utmost respect that he deserves, after all he's the best detective there is, even if he isn't officially certified. Especially since he's not after the task force's credit.

The man with the Jesus Christ beard, and a woman burst into the room.

"Sorry, but she's got the strength of two men, and I will not fight a girl."

Remus looks at the other man with a disappointed expression. I roll my eyes.

The girl kneels by the dead woman and sobs violently upon the rug underneath her. This girl wears A blue tank top, but with a black cardigan on top. She has her hair up in a bun fastened with bobby pins. Just two strands on each side fall loose, to create a softer look. She wears jeans and flats. After assessing that this girl isn't a threat he steps forward.

"I wasn't done inspecting the body. Your tears may wash away any evidence needed. Who are you?"

The girl appears to get a grip on herself. "Marlene Mckinnion."

"Marlene, do you know this woman?"

Marlene's eyes look down, and you can see her long, wet eyelashes. "My sister."

Sirius nods. This may be an important fact. He takes over the conversation after their little exchange.

"I concluded that she came from Cardiff, because under her coat collar is wet. Where could she have traveled from, that it rained recently? We have only gotten rain today in our town. She must have only traveled about a day, or less, so the radius of about one day ago where was it raining? In Cardiff. Her reason for being in town, is because she has a history of unhappy marriages. The wedding ring she wears is dirty on the outside, but clean on the inside ... What does this mean? She regularly works it off her finger. Her adventures in this town are less than holy. That could be an important fact for this case."

"Case?" Marlene looks at Sirius hopefully. "Are you the detective on my sister's case?"

Sirius nods at her silently, then steps over the body and looks at the writing on the opposite wall.

On the wall written in scrawled blood is the name, 'Eric'

"Can I help you?"

Taking out a scalpel, Sirius scrapes some of the word into a plastic baggy. "I don't need any help." He gestures to the words on the wall. He's concentrating very hard on his work.

"No, can I help you with the case?"

Sirius misunderstood her the first time. "You want to help me? Can you make deductions?"

Marlene shakes her head, and says, "I can do martial arts."

Sirius nods. "Fine then, you may accompany me. For now, we must leave this house. I have all the things I need."

Marlene and Sirius walk along outside.

"Where to now?" Marlene asks looking much calmer than she did before, though her eyes are still red rimmed.

"My flat. I need to think. You can go wherever you wish during this time. I will see you later, if you need me, ring my number which I have slipped into your purse already," He smiles and winks at her.

Marlene doesn't know whether the man is a complete asshole, or a charming intellectual. She would like to find out though. Both of them continue walking in the same direction. Arriving at his flat Sirius, looks at Marlene.

"You can go home now."

"I am home ... I moved here today."

Sirius apologizes profusely for asking her to leave, in this case he didn't know. They exchange goodbyes and depart, Sirius for the third floor and Marlene for the First.

Once inside his flat, Sirius pulls out his microscope and examines his flakes of blood. The one's on the wall, hoping to find a lead. He makes more tea, and takes into consideration the whole situation.

Why would a murderer want to kill someone who's in town visiting, for purposes that are immoral? The obvious answer would be to find the husbnad, and hope he hasn't found out about her cheating escapades.

Another two hours later and Sirius is thinking about the 'Eric' written on the wall. Who is Eric? He remembers her small carry on bag, inside there might be some answers. A cell phone, or diary of some sort. Then it dawns on him!

Suitcase! Where was her suitcase?

Sirius jumps up dresses in his coat with the collar turned up, and leaves his flat. He practically jumps down the stairs and in his haste, and excitement forgets he doesn't know which room Marlene lives in. He wants to tell her the discovery that he's made. The plot thickens, and so does the adventure.

He rings every doorbell on the bottom floor, until after the fifth one, Marlene answers.

"Sirius Black."

"Marlene, I have made a discovery on your sister's case. Can I come in?"

Inside Marlene's apartment they have cocoa and discuss the new information.

"If you were a girl, and you traveled for a day ... Wouldn't you bring a suitcase?"

Marlene nods. "Yes. If anything a small bag with clothes."

"It is decided then, her suitcase should have been in the building, but it's not."

"The question is ... Where is it?" Marlene asks with a tiresome voice.

Sirius gets up and turns sharply. "Miss. Marlene, are you ready for an adventure like no other? You must know that this kind of work, does not leave you with many friends."

"To die would be an awfully big adventure."

Sirius likes this girl, because she's not afraid to go with the flow. She doesn't care about getting her clothes dirty. A smart one too, otherwise she wouldn't think about helping Sirius.

Out onto the streets of St. Rutherford once more, Marlene rushes along with Sirius.

"Where are you heading? I thought we were going back to the house?" Marlene's expression turns to worry.

"I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going but I'm on my way." He takes a turn down St. Bartholomew. "I have a theory."

Marlene gasps for air. "Can we stop and discuss it?"

"No time for that, the adventure is upon us! We could solve this all now!"

Marlene keeps step with Sirius, and as they turn into an old back alley finally they slow to a stop.

"This dumpster holds our clue." Out from the rubbish, Sirius pulls out the Baby Blue suitcase. "I just thought that if the murderer did kill the girl, and she had a suitcase it would make it too obvious that she's from out of town." He jumps off the dumpster looking quite like Batman. "He didn't want people assuming that he didn't have any connections to her, and -"

Marlene interupts him. "I don't actually care how you figure all that out, but can we go through her stuff now?"

Sirius nods and opens the case up. Moving everything around, and nothing! Not a phone, diary, or letter to be found.

"The murderer must have it."

"Have what? I don't understand" Marlene has her arms folded. As night descends quickly, it's grows colder outside.

"Her phone. A serial adulterer must be careful about where they are laying their phone around. It's obvious really."

Sirius jumps for joy, and deduces this, "The murderer must have her phone. No one would travel without it, and if not on her person or in her suitcase ... who else could have it? The one person she came into contact with."

Marlene stares at Sirius. "That's a pretty far leap to make. What if she just doesn't have one?"

"She's a serial adulterer. She has a phone."

Both leave the alley and hail a cab back home. When they arrive, Sirius asks Marlene to join him in his flat.

"Welcome, I will make some tea. Have a seat." He scrambles around the kitchen with the kettle.

Marlene has a seat in the living room, and takes a peek around the room. He has a couple of put out cigars in an incense tray. His walls are peculiarly littered with sticky notes.

"Marlene, do you have your phone with you? Can you text this number for me?"

Holding her phone, she almost wants to say no but the allure of adventure rests in between her hands, and it's pull is too great.

"Fine."

"Say this, 'What happened on St. Rutherford St? I must have passed out.'"

"Alright. It's sent, what are you expecting?"

Sirius takes a bottle out of his pocket and takes a pill.

"The murderer will react by replying. Balance of probability. If the text sounds like it's coming from the woman ... He'll panic. Only she would realize her own phone is missing. Everyone else is too dense to come up with this conclusion."

After a moment of awkwardness, Sirius asks,"Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You are quite a rude man, and for your sake I hope you never suffer brain damage, because without your intelligence, no one would put up with you."

Ding! The phone's text alert goes off and the both of them stare at it.

'Meet me at 625 North Cheshire. I'll be there.'

Sirius gets up from his spot after reading the text and smiles,"Perfect! A powerful move from the murderer ... he's confident that we will not catch him."

Marlene looks on at the boy, alight with absolute joy at the profound discovery, and cannot help but smile with him. This is his passion and nothing can compare.

"How can a murderer blend in so well? What kind of person can he be?" Marlene asks with confusion. How can a man be so confident to be right out in the open.

Sirius is bustling around pulling on his coat. "Did you want to accompany me in catching our criminal?"

Sirius Black is very confident that he will catch the murderer. The adventure is what compels him to leave his home every night. The excitement of being in a different place, completing mission for the police.

As soon as Sirius opens the door he's met with a sleep deprived looking Remus, whose rushing into the building. It's raining outside, so who can blame him?

"We've found out who Eric is ..."

"Have you?"

The three of them go back to Sirius' flat. Inside, Remus reaches Sirius' laptop and types some official website in the address bar.

"Eric must be her child. When searching up the Dead woman's history, we dug up some information on her previous marriage. The reason why her husband divorced her was because of a miscarriage. The child's name was Eric."

Sirius' eyes light up at the new information. "She scratched his name into the wall, it must be important, but why would she use her energy to write the name of a baby from fourteen years ago."

Remus and Marlene stare at Sirius hard. Sometimes his insensitive behavior could go too far. He realizes that he's overstepped a line and backtracks.

"Maybe she loved the baby so much that ... He became a code word for something. Someone somewhere must know what she means," Sirius is pacing the room as he says this statement.

He stands and paces. Sits and broods. Does everything in his power to concentrate as hard as he can. Twenty minutes later, we can't solve the mystery of the name 'Eric.'

"I might have an idea. Don't cell phones have pass codes to access all kind of online information. Including GPS Location?"

"That's quite a good idea! All you would need is a password," Remus comments.

Sirius rushes to the laptop and opens another tab. He types in her phone information, and when he comes to the password entry, he pauses.

"The password should be Eric," Marlene says.

Sirius types in 'Eric' and presses enter. The screen reloads and displays this message, _'The information used does not belong to this account.'_

All leads are lost, and the adventure runs stale.

"Well, we tried."

Sirius is chewing on the knuckle of his forefinger. He seriously thought that the dead Woman was leaving them a clue to access her phone GPS. She's a smart girl to begin with, if she can keep all her string of lovers a secret.

"Can I see a picture of the scene? I want to look at the message."

Upon looking at a picture of the scene, Sirius shouts triumphantly. "Her miscarriage was not Eric, a boy!"

Remus and Marlene look at each other with skepticism.

Sirius types the letters E-R-I-C-A into the password entry space, and clicks enter.

They are inside the dead woman's phone account. Sirius clicks on the 'Find My Phone' options and simply, turns on the GPS. The laptop screen loads for five minutes and then makes a high pitched beeping sound.

The chase is on, and the adventure renews itself.

"C'mon! What are you waiting for!" Sirius already shrugging his long coat on, and grabs his keys runs down the stairs.

The Adventure has been keeping Marlene busy for a while, but with them so close to finding her sister's killer, the thrill coarses through her veins. She is absolutely indignant.

Remus calls to Sirius, "I'll be at the Department and tip off everyone on duty."

Both Marlene and Sirius reach the street where the killer should be, the GPS reads that they shouldn't be but fifty feet away from him.

Sirius scans the street for any abnormal behaviors. Nothing seems out of place. Everyone going about their day in peace.

Then everything clicks into place for Sirius. The reason why the murderer was so confident that he could never be caught out in the open. His job is exactly that, taking people into his vehicle and driving them anywhere they want. These people who are murdered, unknowingly consented to being in his presence.

"Stop that cab!"

After the arrest and interrogation of an insane cabbie, Sirius takes a breather to talk to Remus.

"How do you feel?"

Sirius shrugs. "I cracked the case for you. I hope you're happy."

"I am very happy, Sirius. Thank you! Having this serial murderer off the streets, thanks to our town's police force, will create a lot of good buzz around here."

"A job well done then," He smiles. "What was the cabbies motive?"

Remus sighs, a breath of someone who hates to say what's next. "He was being sponsored."

"Sponsored?"

Nodding, Remus explains. "He's terminally ill. Doesn't care if he goes to jail, because he'll die soon. So someone else sponsered him to kill off their enemies. Every kill earned ten grand to his family."

Sirius presses a hand to his head. "I now have a headache. We must find the real perpetrator of who wants these people dead."

Marlene enters the room and goes up to the pair. "Sorry, I don't mean to interrupt."

Remus smiles at Sirius. "No, we were just finishing up. I'll be up front." He stands and enters the main entrance to the station.

She looks at Sirius with the utmost respect. "I am eternally indebted to you for finding my sisters killer. I can sleep in peace knowing that he'll be behind bars."

"It wasn't anything. I do these adventure, mystery type things daily."

"I know. Clearly you have a lot of hands on experience, and I was wondering something."

Sirius has a small inkling of what she's about to ask. He doesn't hold his breath.

"Can I help you on your cases more often?"

That question, the one he always gets asked by others ... He's refused them all.

"Why do you want to help me, I thought you said I was rude."

"Yes, but I have come to realize, that I love adventure. I love everything it stands for, and what it means to be smart."

Sirius waits for the conclusion to her explanation.

"It could not be helped, but I think I've developed a crush on you, Sirius."

She leans into him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. She grabs his hand.

He squeezes back and replies,"Welcome to the team."


End file.
